White, J. E.
“Elmshaven,” St. Helena, California
January 5, 1903
Portions of this letter are published in PC 18-19.
Dear son Edson,—
Your meeting may be over before this reaches you, but I want to tell you that I am intensely desirous that you shall do everything in your power toward reconciliation. Act with the God-given dignity of a Christian gentleman. Make your explanations in humility and gentleness, laying no blame on others; and in the same way acknowledge any mistake you may have made. Then you will have acted your part. Keep yourself under the supervision of God. Never utter an impatient word, whatever may be said to you or of you. Do not criticize your brethren unkindly, even though you know them to be unjust in their treatment of you. You may not be guilty of the things of which they accuse you, but do not retaliate. Do not get angry or excited. This will not give you one inch of vantage ground. Remember that it is not the men you are meeting, but the principalities and powers of the enemy. Take this into account. Pray that men may be led to humble themselves before God and to open the door of the heart to Jesus. He could do more in five minutes with the healing leaf of the tree of life than you or any other human being could do in a lifetime. 18LtMs, Lt 11, 1903, par. 1
Do not speak the hasty words you will be tempted to utter. To speak these words would be as flint striking flint. 18LtMs, Lt 11, 1903, par. 2
Read the study the seventh chapter of John. “After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill Him.” [John 7:1.] When men give themselves up to the control of the spirit of the enemy, they know not what they do. They are insane. But if Christ bore false accusations without retaliating, cannot they of His household? 18LtMs, Lt 11, 1903, par. 3
Speaking to the Jews, Jesus said, “Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill Me?” [Verse 19.] Angrily they replied that they did keep the law. They thought themselves very particular and exact in their observance of the law. But they did not keep it in a way that glorified the Lord. They were very particular about minor matters of their own invention. Forms and ceremonies were strictly observed. But the great principles of the law—justice, mercy, and love—were disregarded. 18LtMs, Lt 11, 1903, par. 4
The followers of Christ are to avoid contention. They are to live the life of Christ. He is our Saviour. His pure, holy life is our example. Then, my son, do not descend to cheapness or commonness in word or act. Let all your words be the words of a Christian gentleman. Keep watching; for you are treading among the quicksands. One false, unguarded step may place you in fearful danger. 18LtMs, Lt 11, 1903, par. 5
You and your brethren are in trouble in regard to the Southern work. I entreat you to be very careful of what you say in the meetings you attend. Remember that silence is eloquence. Let your words be few and well chosen. The enemy will be close by your side, trying to make you feel that you are misrepresented. Keep calm. 18LtMs, Lt 11, 1903, par. 6
One thing I know: you ought to be perfectly reconciled to your brother. Your lack of union with him, your lack of brotherly love, is one of the things that make the leading brethren think that you must certainly be in the wrong. They know W. C. White to be an honorable, unselfish man, who would suffer wrong in silence rather than do wrong. Your alienation from your brother is not right. It is an evidence that you can be estranged from those to whom you should be most closely linked. I know how the Lord regards your brother. You have allowed yourself to become estranged from him, and the brethren, seeing the way in which you treat him, make a handle of it. They say, If he has so little regard for his brother that he cannot harmonize with him, it is not surprising that he cannot harmonize with those who are not his kindred. 18LtMs, Lt 11, 1903, par. 7
My son, for the sake of your soul, stop and consider how God looks upon the estrangement of two brothers. In your hatred of your brother—for it is nothing less than this—you have certainly shown that you have not been led and controlled by the Spirit of God. You have not been backward about showing dislike and lack of respect for your brother. This is not right; it is not reasonable or sensible. You have exaggerated matters and have placed a wrong construction on them, letting your brother stand in an objectionable light before others. 18LtMs, Lt 11, 1903, par. 8
Frank Belden is well pleased to see you cherishing such feelings. Dr. Kellogg knows how you regard your brother, and it has its influence on him. 18LtMs, Lt 11, 1903, par. 9
You cannot expect the Lord to sustain you in your position regarding your brother. God has appointed him to do a work that others would not do. I know of no one but your brother whom I could trust to do this work. I have written to you on this point before, but I do not think that what I wrote had the effect on your mind that it should have had. I shall not let this matter rest, because I know that the stand you have taken is greatly to your injury. I have feared that I might die and leave you and Willie standing in your present attitude toward one another. 18LtMs, Lt 11, 1903, par. 10
Before our Lord went to His agony on the cross, He made His will. He had no silver or gold or houses to leave to His disciples. He was a poor man, as far as earthly possessions were concerned. Few in Jerusalem were so poor as He. But He left His disciples a richer gift than any earthly monarch could bestow on his subjects. “Peace I leave with you,” He said. It was the peace that had been His throughout His life on earth—the peace which had been with Him amidst poverty, buffeting, and persecution, and which was to be with Him in His agony in Gethsemane and on the cruel cross. He linked Himself closely to the friends He was leaving, giving them that which brings true happiness. “My peace I give unto you,” He said; “not as the world giveth, give I unto you: let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” [John 14:27.] 18LtMs, Lt 11, 1903, par. 11
Edson, in regard to your proposition about the first four chapters of Patriarchs and Prophets, I cannot feel that it would be safe for me to move without laying everything before Willie. Talk matters over with him. I cannot, at my own impulse, take up a work and launch out into it. I have to be impressed by the Spirit of God. I cannot write unless the Holy Spirit helps me. Sometimes I cannot write at all. Then again I am aroused at eleven, twelve, and one o’clock; and I can write as fast as my hand can move over the paper. 18LtMs, Lt 11, 1903, par. 12
I must throw off as far as possible the burden of the work in Nashville. It is too great for me to carry. I must drop it from my soul. I have carried the burden of the Southern field till I can carry it no longer. I shall have to lay it off, else I shall be unfitted for my writing. 18LtMs, Lt 11, 1903, par. 13
I cannot advise you to separate from the work in Nashville, but if, after praying over the matter, you feel that this is the best thing to do, do it, and leave the result with the Lord. But to establish a separate work on your own bit of land will not help the difficulty. Do nothing hastily. The Lord will work. He will bring glory to His name. 18LtMs, Lt 11, 1903, par. 14
It may be best for you to step out of the field altogether and let the whole weight of the work rest upon the other laborers there. I think that you have carried the load long enough. If you can feel free to do so, go to another field. 18LtMs, Lt 11, 1903, par. 15
I cannot help the work in the Southern field financially. I am thousands and thousands of dollars in debt, and I am obliged to keep borrowing continually in order to pay my running expenses. I draw from the General Conference only fifty dollars a month of my wages. During the past year I have received scarcely any royalties. I am in a very strait place financially. My trust is in God, but I must begin to think where the money is coming from with which to pay my workers. 18LtMs, Lt 11, 1903, par. 16
I would ask you once more, Edson, to keep very quiet. Do not look upon yourself as blameless, but confess your faults, and in this do thorough work. You now have opportunity to show that you cherish the forgiving love of Christ. If the Lord in His great mercy vindicates you in certain things, you can show great weakness, or you can do as you were represented to me as doing, when in the night season I saw One who has authority laying His hand on your shoulder and leading you to the front rank. This broke your heart. You wept and confessed your sins and mistakes, asking pardon for the hasty words you had spoken. And reconciliation was made between you and your brethren. 18LtMs, Lt 11, 1903, par. 17
My son, if at all times you had spoken as a Christian gentleman, if you had not cherished bitter feelings, there would have been far less prejudice against you. Will you not during this meeting put self out of sight? Be humble, as one of God’s little children. Your work has not been perfect before Him. In speech and deportment you must reach a higher standard. When you descend to cheapness, you destroy the influence that as a minister of the gospel you should exert. 18LtMs, Lt 11, 1903, par. 18
I have been given words for you that I wish you to engrave upon your heart: “The meek will He guide in judgment, and the meek will He teach His way.” “I will instruct thee, and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go; I will guide thee with Mine eye.” [Psalm 25:9; 32:8.] “Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am the Lord thy God, which teacheth thee to profit, which leadest thee by the way that thou shouldest go.” [Isaiah 48:17.] “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He shall show them His covenant.” [Psalm 25:14.] 18LtMs, Lt 11, 1903, par. 19
May God help you, my son, to pursue a right course, to be meek and lowly. The experience through which you are passing may be the means of saving your soul, if you will watch unto prayer. 18LtMs, Lt 11, 1903, par. 20
The Lord is present in every meeting, marking the course of each one. He watches the movement made, and He will direct in all the changes made, if His servants will follow His guidance. Our missions and commissions are all different. No two persons are given precisely the same work. Each has his own manner of performing his work, and that manner must be Christlike. 18LtMs, Lt 11, 1903, par. 21
God must show us every step of the way. Every hour we must have the new impulses of His Spirit. Love for Him should be the mainspring of our actions. Every hour has its duties and every movement its cares. Let a controlling power from above check the hasty speech. Let your heart be filled with the kindest, most tender compassion. Never allow yourself to be ruled by impulse. Never get out of patience. New scenes are opening before us, and we need to hear a voice from heaven, directing us to the right or to the left, saying, “This is the way; walk ye in it.” [Isaiah 30:21.] God’s will, not ours, is to control. “A man’s heart deviseth his way; but the Lord directeth his steps.” [Proverbs 16:9.] 18LtMs, Lt 11, 1903, par. 22